Open Post | Tuesday, November 16th
Posted on: November 16, 2021
Sooners Offer JUCO DT Jeffrey M’ba
– Charlie S- Posted on: November 15, 2021
The Sooners extended an offer to ’22 JUCO Jeffrey M’ba who is at Independence C.C. in Kansas.
M’ba is listed at 6’6 305 and we are told he has 4 years to play 3 seasons at his next stop.
James and I checked around to see if there was any correlation to this offer in regards to where things stand with OU and Hero Kanu, and both of us have been told there is no connection.
Source told James ‘OU knows they are going to need all the quality DL they can get their hands on at this point’.
I was told that OU is still optimistic about Kanu and their chances with him while also maintaining a pretty neutral opinion on Chris McClellan.
M’ba will be in Norman for the Iowa State game this weekend per his Twitter.
Quick Post Game Thoughts | Baylor
– Charlie S – Posted on: November 13, 2021
The Sooners have been flirting with their first loss pretty much every week since the season began.
Baylor accepted the overtures and beat OU in Waco.
Let’s start by listing the things that OU did well today…
***Brian Asamoah played well.
Thats it.
***Caleb Williams had a horrible game with two very bad interceptions thrown. He was pulled in the second half for Spencer Rattler. I don’t want to hear about his hand being hurt or whatever, because what changed between halftime and the point Riley decided to go to Rattler.
***I don’t like the move, I don’t like the potential impact it has going forward. I didn’t like anything about it. You will likely hear that it was because of the injury to his hand being stepped on, but even if Riley straight up says it was because of performance, Spencer Rattler was not going to come in and win that game with how Baylor was defending the run. It just wasn’t going to happen and it feels like we saw Riley panic.
***Should have left Williams in to take the L as he would have had the opportunity to learn from it. Rattler isn’t going to be in Norman next year. Williams is. Bad decision there.
***The decision to bring Williams back in at the end of the game showed you that Riley panicked and didn’t trust himself or his calls. He deserves to get grilled on this one.
***Lot’s of credit to Dave Aranda and the Baylor defense. They out schemed and outplayed Lincoln Riley’s offense.
***The defense came up with some timely stops and a couple big turnovers.
***They also gave up over 275 yards of rushing and that was one of my concerns that I talked about coming into the game. The Baylor offense would run it right down OU’s throats…and they did. They didn’t need much from the passing game.
***This team came out flat, unfocused, and unprepared. They showed very little fight. This isn’t that complex.
***This game exposed a lack of accountability as OU was bullied on both sides of the ball by an inferior group of athletes (on paper). Initially, that points me to strength and conditioning/nutrition/showing up when you are supposed to show up to things like meals/events/scheduled workouts etc. All year they have been flirting with it, Baylor cashed in the checks.
***The penalties were just another indication of a lack of accountability.
***The reason you have to fix this is because it is not a talent issue. OU is more talented, on paper, than any team in the Big 12.
***Aranda was better than Riley today and that should not happen at the University of Oklahoma. But it does…at least once a year…for seemingly ever.
We will get into things deeper this week.
In the Rearview | More Postgame Thoughts
– Charlie S – Posted on: November 13, 2021
Earlier in the week, I posted the Know Your Opponent | Baylor thread.
In that thread, I gave my ‘Overall Thoughts’ on how I saw the game setting up…
‘Overall Thoughts …
– Straight up, I’m concerned about Oklahoma being able to match the Bears’ physicality over a 60-minute span. This group of Bears is very aggressive and they love to smack people in their mouths.
– If OU has issues getting the run game going against Baylor’s front it could be a long afternoon. I kind of expect Riley to come out with a game plan similar to the one he used versus TTU in regard to throwing the ball to open the running game. I also believe if he ever plans on implementing more of a QB run game, this will be the game he unveils it.
– Baylor’s offense plays complementary football about as well as anyone in the conference does. The Sooners will be forced to be very disciplined in their assignments, angles, and most importantly, tackling in space. Not things they have done well consistently throughout the year.
– OU can’t afford to start slow or turn the ball over if the expectation is to walk out of Waco with a victory. The Sooners, on paper, have the advantage, but this Baylor team is going to come out as an angry bunch and they will likely have a ton of energy.’
Let’s break that down a little further…
‘– Straight up, I’m concerned about Oklahoma being able to match the Bears’ physicality over a 60-minute span. This group of Bears is very aggressive and they love to smack people in their mouths.’
Baylor rushed for 300 yards against the Sooners and bullied them on both lines of scrimmage. OU was out physicaled as well as out schemed and out coached. As the kids say…OU didn’t want that smoke.
‘– If OU has issues getting the run game going against Baylor’s front it could be a long afternoon. I kind of expect Riley to come out with a game plan similar to the one he used versus TTU in regard to throwing the ball to open the running game. I also believe if he ever plans on implementing more of a QB run game, this will be the game he unveils it.’
OU had massive issues getting the run game going and they did not install anything new in the way of a QB run game. 28 rushes for 78 yards is not going to cut it. I was also surprised at the play calling, and lack of quick passes or RPO’s used by Oklahoma. The Bear’s secondary was really not tested with anything exotic and with Williams being off with his throws early on, things didn’t end well.
‘– Baylor’s offense plays complementary football about as well as anyone in the conference does. The Sooners will be forced to be very disciplined in their assignments, angles, and most importantly, tackling in space. Not things they have done well consistently throughout the year.’
Some people are hanging their hats on the fact that the Sooners only allowed 27 points. That’s still 27 points and that is all Baylor needed to blow out OU. The game was not as close as the score and of course, if some things fell different ways or some calls were made the scoreboard could have looked different, but the feeling would have been the same. The Bears played very good complementary football. Scoring in response, scoring when given the opportunity, sustaining long drives when needed. The Sooners gave up some big second-chance opportunities and some major conversions by…taking some horrific angles and tackling very poorly in big spots.
‘– OU can’t afford to start slow or turn the ball over if the expectation is to walk out of Waco with a victory. The Sooners, on paper, have the advantage, but this Baylor team is going to come out as an angry bunch and they will likely have a ton of energy.’
OU started incredibly slow and turned the ball over multiple times. They are still the better team on paper yet they are still wearing that ‘L’ following the game.
Sometimes, things are pretty simple to explain, and I am certainly no genius and don’t claim to be when it comes to analyzing football games…
But if I can point out some simple things that can’t happen, or need to happen, prior to the game in order for OU to be successful and hit on all four of them…someone didn’t get their job done at OU this week.
Bottom line, we could all see this coming.
Sunday Brunch | If Not…
– Ryan Lewis – Posted on: November 14, 2021
OU walked into Waco yesterday undefeated and completely in control of their own destiny with regards to the Big 12 Championship and the College Football Playoff. They returned to Norman with a loss, an almost guarantee of no Playoff shot, and far more questions than answers. In that vein, I have a question that’s been swirling in my head since the game.
If not now, when?
Bob Stoops won a title in 2000, his second season with the program. The Sooners were coming off the dark ages of the 90’s and he completely turned the ship around. Stoops went on to appear in several more championship games and a Playoff game, but never quite finished the deal again.
Lincoln Riley took over for the 2017 season. He inherited a far better situation than Stoops, but did have a defensive staff that wasn’t up to the job. Riley went to the Playoff in 2017 and 2018, then overhauled that defensive staff after the 2018 season. For the past three seasons, the entire staff has worked to upgrade the talent, implement their system, and work toward having all the pieces in place. That was supposed to be this season.
For several years now, people have pointed at 2021 as ‘the year’ for OU. The talent continued to improve and many of the key pieces of the team were set to be at their most experienced for the 2021 season. Spencer Rattler would be in his Heisman season, the defensive front was going to the best in years, and everything would fall into place.
Add to that another huge piece (that obviously wasn’t known until the season began): nobody is really that good this year (outside of Georgia). Really, look at that top 25. Who truly impresses you?
Notice I didn’t ask who do you think would beat OU. I’m simply asking that, compared to a standard top 10, who is really that good?
Clemson is off the map, as is the rest of the ACC.
The Big 10 has several solid squads, but they all have flaws. This is nowhere close to Ohio State’s best team in recent years.
Oregon is the only Pac 12 team with a pulse, but they’re not frightening.
Georgia is truly awesome. Other than that, the SEC isn’t scaring anyone. Much like Ohio State, this is a noticeable down year for Bama.
The Big 12 is not intimidating at all. The Baylor squad that just whopped OU might be the best team in the conference and they already have two conference losses.
The years to be good are the years when you don’t have to play a juggernaut. Who wants to play a 2020 Bama or a 2019 LSU (OU did that – it did not go well).
Think back to where we started dissecting this question. Bob won a title in 2000 against Florida State. With all the love in the world toward that 2000 squad, that was absolutely not Stoops’ best team on the field. If you had a Round Robin Playoff between the 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2008 OU teams, how many wins do you think the 2000 team would get? I’m not trying to down on them, because they’re champs and hold a special place in all OU fans’ hearts. Oklahoma won a title that year for a lot of reasons, but one helpful factor was not having to go beat a 2001 Miami, a 2004 USC, or a 2008 Florida.
All of that to say, the recipe was right for this season. Coach Riley had been allowed to make his staffing hires, the talent had been upgraded across the board, and the path to a title was as clear as a fan could reasonably request. And yet, the Sooners lost in Waco on Saturday. What’s worse, they were outcoached and outplayed in every facet of the game.
Even worse that that, the end of this season could get very ugly if the Sooners continue playing at their current level. OU will face an Iowa State team who lost Saturday to Tech, but always plays OU tough. Then, Oklahoma will travel to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State’s most complete team in quite a few years. If the Sooners make the Big 12 Championship, they’ll either play Baylor or OSU again. Finally, they’ll have to play someone in a Bowl (or the Playoff if you’re inclined to include that as an option after Saturday). It seems entirely within the realm of possibility that OU loses several of those games.
I don’t have any quick answers. There’s no magic 8 ball here: this team has a lot of issues that need addressed. Everyone has known that all season; heck, there’s a good argument to be made that the only reason OU entered that game undefeated was due to an unusually soft front end of the schedule that the Sooners still made look difficult.
If not now, when?
Position Group Progress Report | Game 10: Baylor
– Charlie S – Posted on: November 15, 2021
Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooners loss to Baylor. Coming into the game, OU was a small favorite over the Bears and they wound up getting smacked 27-14 and it wasn’t really that close.
This is the tenth progress report of the season and I will include the previous game’s ratings for each unit.
Let’s see how things shook out against Baylor.
QB: Low 1* (Last Week 5*)
Horrible.
That is the only way to describe Caleb Williams’s day. His poor performance was only compounded when Riley went to Rattler and the program as a whole came out looking worse for it on several fronts.
I’m not here to make excuses for Caleb Williams because he is a freshman. That is no longer part of the discussion really as he has played in much bigger games than against Baylor in Waco and has excelled. What I will say in defense of Caleb Williams is that his OC did him no favors with the initial game plan or any type of adjustments within the game itself.
The two interceptions were just inexplicable and the second one came on a play he butchered from the start by not executing the play that was called and then not heaving the ball out of bounds. We will get into that more in film don’t lie.
But I didn’t like the way he played, it was terrible. I didn’t like the game plan, it was horrific. And I didn’t like the move to bring Rattler in against what the Bears were doing defensively. The QB position on the day was junk from all angles.
About as close to a ‘Nebula’ as one can get. If I could hand a Nebula out to the OC, I would.
RB: Low 2* (Last week 3*)
I really have no rationale behind this low 2* ranking other than to signify that they were the ‘least bad’ group on the day.
Again, I do not get the lack of rotation here when one thing isn’t working and I actually thought coming off the TTU game that we may have seen more carries for Gray…but it was Brooks who got the lions share (13 carries for 51 yards) and Gray who got his usual one carry on the day.
Oh yeah, they were once again bad in pass pro for the most part. They did have their moments where they made a block TD run by Brooks), but more often than not, it was a courtesy block and weak efforts.
The best of the bad?
WR/TE: 1* (Last week 5*)
Houdini never did it better.
A complete disappearing act for the most part from the WRs.
Yeah, Mike Woods had a decent day and yeah Haselwood had a notable catch…but as a group, they made very little impact.
A lot of their struggles came from Baylor putting the clamps on slow-developing plays and taking away the underneath stuff, but nobody stepped up and made a difference. Some of that is on the play calling and some of that is on the QB play…but the Sooners only had one play over 20 yards on the day.
Guys were not getting open (lack of separation) and they did their QBs no favors when it came to making any type of competitive catch.
OL: High 1* (Last week 3*)
I’m a little conflicted over this ranking, to be honest.
I could easily make a case for them being the best offensive group on the day for OU as once again, they were not nearly as bad as people want to believe.
Were they good? No. But they were not terrible for the entire day and they actually had moments where they controlled the line of scrimmage and provided a ton of time for the QBs.
Still…they allowed 5 sacks, had a handful of misses, and looked confused at times (more on this in film don’t lie).
Once again, I will say it, they got no help from their OC in regard to the game plan. Still trying to run everything off counter instead of zone scheme which makes zero sense at this point. Zero sense.
They weren’t good, but they weren’t the worst group offensively for OU.
DL: 2* (Last week 3*)
Isaiah Thomas and Nik Bonitto help to elevate this group’s ranking.
That’s about all the positives I have for them.
The interior was broken and OU would not/could not set an edge if it wasn’t Thomas or Bonitto on the call.
Winfrey was bullied once again and Redmond had some chances to shine but they fell just out of reach.
Did not notice anyone else, and that’s not good.
LB: High 4* (Last week High 3*)
Asamoah continues his great play of late and he was the best player for OU, on either side of the ball on the day by a large, large margin.
The second best player for OU on the day…David Ugwoegbu. He played very well and was assignment sound, but him being dragged for a first down on a play he had contained in the backfield kept me from giving the group a 5*.
Stutsman added 3 tackles and Whitter showed off his speed as he tracked down the ball carrier on a 75 yard run while navigating the moving speed bump named Pat Fields.
Right now, this is the one group that has been trending in the right direction for the Sooners defensively.
DB: 2* (Last week 4*)
2*? But, they only gave up 117 passing yards and pulled in an interception.
Do not be fooled…if Baylor had a need to throw the ball, or a better QB, they could have exploited OU through the air as guys were running wide open.
Not only that, the secondary continues to take baffling angles and miss tackle after tackle.
It is a mess back there.
Woodi Washington, who has missed the last 2 months, was your best DB n the day…and again, it wasn’t particularly close.
Broiles was a step behind for most of the day, Key displayed the same technique Graham did last week against TTU, Graham got beat bad a few times and DTY had a couple huge misses on potential drive-stopping tackles.
Thats all I have to say about this group.
Special Teams: High 1* (Last week 3*)
Brkic looked like he was still focused on kicking burritos as he missed both his FG attempts.
Turk had a good day.
Kick Return and Punt Return were fine.
Not a good day at all.
